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Summary
The first beast
- ten horns
- seven heads with blasphemous names
- like a leopard with bear's feet
- lion's mouth
- one of it's heads had what looked like a mortal wound that was healed
- the dragon gave the beast his authority
- people worshipped the dragon and marveled at the beast and worshipped it too
- the beast uttered blashpemy
- for 42 months it was given authority and waged war on God's people and conquered them
The second beast
- Rose out of the earth
- Two horns like a lamb
- Makes people worship the 1st beast
- performs signs, makes fire come down from heaven
- makes an image of the 1st beast
- makes image come alive, the image wages war on people who will not worship the beast
- causes everyone to be marked on the right hand or forehead and you cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast
- the mark is 666, the number of a man
Observations
Much of the descriptions of the beasts sound like twisted imitations of Christ: + mortal wound that was healed - death and resurrection + given authority over the earth + has a messenger who goes before it (the second beast) + believers are not spared a hard time